Archive for the ‘robert gilliam’ tag

Most people have heard about the historic Nats Gulf Coast Rookie league team’s performance this year, but the Nats farm teams were great up and down the system in 2013. Here’s a recap of each level’s season, in case you havn’t already gotten the summary from Dave Huzzard or Luke Erickson:

AAA Syracuse: Last place, International League North. Season record: 66-78. Contrary to the title of this article, our AAA team was pretty bad this year. Culprets? A middle-of-the road offense and a relatively weak pitching staff (they were easily last in the league in strikeouts, lower ranked in other major pitching categories).

High-A Potomac: 1st half AND 2nd half champions, Carolina League North. Season Record: 84-55. Winning both halfs earned them full home field advantage in the first round of the divisional playoffs, which they used to beat Lynchburg easily enough. However in the Carolina league final the Nats lost both games at home before getting swept by Salem in the league championship series (Salem is Boston’s high-A affiliate).

Low-A Hagerstown: 1st half champs of the South Atlantic League Northern. Season Record: 80-57. They dispatched the 2nd half champs from West Virginia in the divisional series to face Savannah in the Sally League championship. After splitting the first two games at home, Hagerstown traveled to Savannah and lost two straight to drop the championship (Savannah is the New York Mets’ low-A affiliate).

Short-A Auburn: Last place, NY-Penn Pinckney. 26-49. Culprets include a team .230 batting average and near league bottom OPS combined with the worst team ERA and worst team WHIP in the league. Bad hitting and the worse pitching equates with last place.

Rookie GCL Nats: 1st place, GCL League East with an amazing 49-9 record. That according to press releases by the team is the highest W/L percentage in (domestic) minor league basebal history. Wow. They then swept the GCL Red Sox to win the GCL championship.

So that’s four playoff teams out of six US affiliates (I often ignore the DSL, fairly or otherwise, since it has such a low percentage of players even making it to the US leagues, let alone advancing into relevance).

What makes these performances even more amazing, especially for Potomac, is that they persevered on despite losing significant numbers of pitchers through out the season to promotion. Quick glances:

Harrisburg lost 3 starters (Clay, Jordan, Hill) and two relievers (Broadway and Krol) to promotions.

Potomac lost an entire rotation of starters (Jordan, Gilliam, Hill, Ray and Cole) in addition to four other relivers (Herron, Grace, Frias and Mirowski).

Hagerstown graduated at least 5 starters (Schwartz, Dupra, Rauh, Purke and Mooneyham), traded another starter (Pineyro) and matriculated a couple of relievers along the way (Benincasa and Henke).

I know this only focuses on arms on these minor league teams, and that isn’t necessarily fair to the offense, but Potomac especially was amazing in chugging along while losing its best starter month after month to promotion.

For each level, I’ll put out the rotation members, their “letter grades” per start for this month only, and then throw in a quick link to show their seasonal stats for context. For each team there are 3 distinct groups of starters: the top group of 5-6 Starters per level is the “current rotation” as best as I can figure it, then the next section of pitchers are swing-men or spot-starters or guys who had “2nd start” or longer outings worthy of grading, followed by a 3rd group of guys who are generally no longer with the team (either by D/L, promotion, demotion or release). I’ve only listed the third category if something transactionally has happened to the player this particular month.

All stats mentioned (ERAs, Whips, K/9 rates, etc) are as of 8/1/13 and may have slightly changed by the time of this posting.

Discussion: Syracuse has had the most stable rotation of the whole system. Which is ironic because (if I’m interpreting their service time correctly) 4/5ths of this rotation are minor league free agents this coming off season. Only Danny Rosenbaum is tied to the organization past this year, having already “survived” one rule-5 draft, but I think we can read the tea-leaves in terms of his future with the organization. The bright side of this turnover will be the rightful promotion and challenging of several AA pitchers right now, to start grooming the true MLB injury replacements that we just did not have in-house this year (with apologies to Chris Young who really did not work out and Ross Ohlendorf, who has but in a non-starting role thus far).

Yunesky Maya has shown signs of life lately, putting up a few good performances in the latter part of the month. Tanner Roark seems like he could be a useful swing-man on the MLB roster if called into action; he’s performed ably since returning to the rotation. Caleb Clay continues to impress; how did he not success in Boston’s organization?

In the bullpen, Xavier Cedeno has excelled since his waiver claim from Houston but suffered from bad timing and bad luck; the two loogies called up (Abad and Krol) have both excelled. Cedeno is likely another 6-year MLFA heading elsewhere this coming off-season. (Note: Cedeno has just been called up to cover for Ohlendorf’s “dead arm” D/L trip).

Discussion: Harrisburg’s rotation is now down to just one of the 5 guys who opened the year there; Nathan Karns has recovered from his MLB stint and long layoff and is back to dominating; if it weren’t for the full-deck in AAA Karns may have been promoted by now. Blake Treinen (another original rotation guy) is on his second D/L stint of the month but has kept his numbers respectable. Robert Gilliam continues his up-and-down season, moving between stellar and sub-par starts (which is reflected in his 4.09 ERA in AA).

The next generation though seems upon us: A.J. Cole, Robbie Ray and Taylor Hill are all on the same path this year: succeeded in High-A, pushed to AA and are now succeeding there. Cole’s first two starts in Harrisburg could not have gone better, and Ray’s numbers are still good despite a couple of rough starts. Remember; both Ray and Cole were “really young” at the season’s onset for High-A; now they’re among the youngest guys in all of AA and still producing. This is great news going forward for this farm system, especially considering that another of the opening day Potomac starters (Taylor Jordan) is now effectively pitching in the majors. I know this is the Harrisburg section, but think about the success of Potomac’s original 5 this year.

Discussion: The churn in the Potomac rotation continues. They’ve not gotten starts from 15 different non-rehab assignment players. And they keep on chugging, holding an 8 game lead in the division on August 1st after winning the first half. Potomac’s two significant/important names of course are Matthew Purke and Sammy Solis. Purke has looked hittable in High-A, his ERA skewed by one really bad outing but still not as dominant as you’d like someone with his pedigree to be. Meanwhile Solis’ latest “return” seems to be going pretty well; he maintains a 2.65 ERA in Potomac while trying to build up arm strength. Blake Schwartz is now the longest tenured rotation member and has pitched excellently so far in 2013. He could be quite a find if he continues to develop (he was a 17th round pick who mostly pitched in Division II in college).

Meanwhile, Paul Demny‘s career faced a significant setback upon his demotion from Harrisburg. He now sits back in High-A, a level at which he pitched a full season in 2011. It may be time for Demny to try a conversion to relief, as it seems that he may be stalled as a starter. He had great K/9 rates as a starter; it seems he may make a very effective reliever.

Discussion: with Dixon Anderson‘s D/L trip, Pedro Encarnacion now becomes the senior statesman of Hagerstown. Both guys have pretty similar numbers; good ERAs (3.20-3.30) and good whips (1.17-1.19). Encarnaction continues his slow march up the farm system, having gotten further along than most every DSL graduate in recent years. Brett Mooneyham continues to dominate a league that he’s over-qualified for. Kylin Turnbull continues to get pounded in a league that he should be handling. Ian Dickson (who we got in trade for Henry Rodriguez) has done decently well since being added to the rotation; outside of one blow-up he’s given up just 4 runs in 20 innings over 5 starts. Not a bad return so far for a guy we were going to cut anyway (and who the Cubs took about 5 weeks to DFA themselves).

We’re seeing some big ERAs in Auburn so far. Robert Orlan; 5.19 ERA. Joel Barrientos: 4.66. Deion Williams: 9.42. Ugh. More interesting to me are the 2013 draftee performances thus far. 2nd rounder Jake Johansen has been good; sub 1.00 ERA, sub 1.00 whip and about a K an inning so far. He’s been a bit wild (28/14 K/BB ratio but has been consistently stingy when it comes to runs. 5th rounder Austin Voth has been sharp; 17/1 K/BB ratio in 14 innings so far in Short-A. Lastly Ryan Ullman, a 30th round pick has had up and down starts so far in his 13 short-A innings.

I remain baffled with Will Hudgins abrupt retirement; he had 12 innings of relatively decent relief in 2013 and then tweeted out his retirement. He hasn’t tweeted since, and when I mentioned it in the daily NationalsProspect.com post I didn’t get anyone who knew anything else. Hopefully the retirement was not injury or illness related.

It almost isn’t worth trying to grade out these GCL pitchers; most of the time they’re going 2-3 innings per “start” or per long relief stint. If you pitch 3 scoreless innings, is that an “A?” Lucas Giolito now has 6 “starts” but only a total of 12 combined innings thrown. DSL grads Wander Suero and Jefry Rodriguez have looked promising. Kelvin Rodriguez has good numbers in his combined mid-relief stints but relatively few strike outs (only 9 in 21 1/3 innings).

With the draft and the big early June roster shakeup and the College World Series going on (I’m apparently the only guy in Nats-land who cares about it), I’m a little late with this monthly quick glance at the Minor League starters. Here’s April 2013’s version.

For each level, I’ll put out the Rotation members, their “letter grades” per start and then throw in a quick table to show their seasonal stats for context. As with last month, the top group of Starters per level is the “current rotation” as best as we can figure it, then I’ve got a line for guys who got spot starts or (especially in the lower levels) guys who did long relief or “second start” stints.

May saw some interesting movement in the underperforming Syracuse rotation. MLFA signing and supposed MLB rotation insurance policy #1 ChrisYoung continued to struggle before hitting the D/L. Similarly, Ryan Perry put in a number of ugly appearances and also landed on the D/L. This created an opeing for two new guys in the rotation, handled somewhat ably by Ryan Tatusko and somewhat less ably by MLFA Matt Torra. Ross Ohlendorf righted the ship a bit and put himself in line for an earned callup on the strength of several good outings, only to have the weather in Washington conspire against him. Yunesky Maya got a long-deserved DFA and outright, and now sits in limbo having not pitched since his aborted 5/31 start. Lastly Danny Rosenbaum continues to have the best stat line of any starter in Syracuse, but (as often discussed here) he seems destined for life as a 6-year free agent plying his trade elsewhere in this Mike Rizzo-run organization that values power arms over finesse artists.

The Harrisburg rotation continues to house a number of sub 4.00 ERA hurlers and we’re starting to see some movement among the ranks. First and foremost Nathan Karns “earned” a callup to the big club probably mostly by his placement on the 40-man roster at the time, but also b/c of his excellent K/9 ratio. Brian Broderick‘s D/L stint (will he return at this point or go straight from the D/L->release?) has opened the door for a couple new names. Taylor Jordan continues his great comeback from his 2011 Tommy John surgery. Paul Demny‘s string of excellent starts earned him a brief Syracuse call-up. Robert Gilliam struggled in his AA debut but righted the ship and (as of this writing) has decent enough AA numbers that he seems to be capable of sticking on. One odd personnel move was the abrupt release of Trevor Holder, who didn’t have bad numbers on the season and was immediately picked up by San Diego. I wonder if there’s something to this story.

Welcome back Sammy Solis; he’s slowly getting re-initiated to the rotation and spent his last May starts on strict pitch count limits. After a disastrous 2012 Robbie Ray continues his excellent campaign and may be making a statement for the next promotion (as of this writing: 81Ks in 62 innings as one of the younger guys in high-A? wow). A.J. Cole continues to be frustratingly hit or miss; one night he’ll strike out 11 in 6, another night he gives up 5 runs in 5. Speaking of inconsistent; Taylor Hill‘s last two May starts were awful, then his first two June starts were stellar. All in all though, Potomac’s rotation has been a bright point for the farm system and has produced a number of promotions before the all star break.

I’ll be honest; right now its hard to tell what the “rotation” is in Hagerstown. The arrival of Matthew Purke seemingly had to bump someone, but its hard to tell who. Purke’s showing some great swing-and-miss stuff in his first pro starts in half-of-forever; if this guy can turn back into the prospect he once was, the Nats will be ecstatic. DSL grads Pedro Encarnacion and Ivan Pineyro continue to put up good numbers for the Low-A Suns. As does Dixon Anderson, who is seemingly due for a promotion at this point.

First off, this is partly a post of self-flaggelation, to show how far off my various predictions of what the 2013 minor league staffs would look like by doing 2012 season-ending analysis. Such is the nature of minor league pitching staffs in the modern day; they’re a combination of spare parts, rising stars and hangers-on and they can change rapidly with trades and spring training performances. Every trade and every MLFA signing trickles down and fouls up predicitons.

Here’s my End of Season 2012 post with predictions for each of the 2013 minor league pitching staffs. We’ll use that as a basis for the Opening Day 2013 rosters of the four full-season minor league teams. Just for fun we’ll throw in (and start with) the MLB prediction. Note that this early in the season we don’t really know who’s shaking out as starters and relievers necessarily for these minor league teams; i’m just going on first week usage right now. As always, Luke Erickson and nationalsprospects.com, the Nats Big Board and the tireless work by “SpringfieldFan” is much appreciated here.

MLB Discussion: It wasn’t going to be that difficult to predict the 2013 Nats pitching staff make-up by looking at our staff and their FA status heading into the off-season. The rotation filled its one spot with Dan Haren. The bullpen was 5/7ths predicted correctly (if you count Zach Duke as a FA left-hander acquisition). Christian Garcia‘s injury opened the door for one more season of Henry Rodriguez, and of course nobody could have predicted the Rafael Soriano purchase. Lastly all 5 of the predicted departures occured, in addition to Tom Gorzelanny being let go.

We were 3/5s correct on the rotation, and probably would have been 4/5ths right if Brad Meyers was healthy. Ross Ohlendorf and (eventually) Chris Young are new faces here, both being former MLB starters who are taking the Zach Duke route of signing on for full seasons as AAA starter insurance for the big club in the hopes of rebuilding value and finding a MLB job for next year. Brian Broderick is indeed back; its just that he’s starting for AA instead of AAA. Lastly Danny Rosenbaum was returned to the team after his spring Rule-5 adventure and was put in AAA instead of AA, where (as we’ll see in a second) I would have predicted he would start. Once Young is ready to go, I see Tanner Roark turning into the swingman/long-man.

On the bright side (pun intended), when was the last time a professional baseball team had TWO Ivy League alumni pitching in its rotation?? Both Young and Ohlendorf went to Princeton. I wonder if they have NYTimes crossword puzzle competitions instead of (assumedly) video game competitions on off-days in the clubhouse.

As far as bullpen predictions go, next year I’m paying more close attention to who are 6-year free agents. Arneson, Severino and Nelo were all MLFAs and have either signed on elsewhere or are facing forced retirement. Tatusko, Davis and Mandel are onboard. Lehman is (surprisingly?) in AA, perhaps a victim of the numbers game of the Nats signing (and keeping) a number of minor league lefty relievers this off-season. I would guess, looking at the names in the bullpen, that Erik Davis is the closer but who knows what the usage will be like. Lastly Bramhall was a MLFA signing over the off-season who just got placed on the AAA roster to replace the injured Accardo.

We got, well, not much of this right. Of my starter predictions: Rosenbaum is in AAA, Holder is here but seems to be the long-man right now, Gilliam is hurt, Solis is still on the DL, and Grace is back in High-A. We do seem to have at least gotten Karns and Demny right. Broderick was a surprise FA signing, his being a favorite of the Nats organziation per our Rule-5 experiment with him a couple years back. I’m surprised he’s not in the AAA rotation though. Treinen was a trade-throw in from the Morse deal and takes a spot in this rotation, while Clay was a 2013 MLFA signing who (surprisingly?) made the rotation over the likes of other candidates.

The bullen prediction is all over the place: We got Frias, Holland and Wort right. McCoy is in AAA, Selik is on the AA D/L and VanAllen and Demmin were MLFAs who were left unsigned (and per the big board are still unsigned). I thought Barrett and Swynenberg would be in high-A instead of AA, I (and most others) thought Lehman would be in AAA, and Krol arrived as the PTBNL in the Morse trade.

The Potomac rotation guess was already light; a couple of the guys I was guessing might be in low-A are indeed there (Schwartz and Rauh). Swynenberg is in the AA bullpen. Meyer was traded. Only Robbie Ray returns. I thought Jordan was going to repeat Hagerstown. We got Cole back in the Morse trade and bumped up Turnbull from short season (over Mooneyham, interestingly) Lastly Hill seems to have beaten out Grace for the 5th starter spot.

The Bullpen prediction looks pretty good: 7 of the predicted guys are here (Smoker on the DL, Meza, Holt, Hawkins, Mirowski and Bates). Barrett indeed is in AA. Testa was released. Of my release candidates McCatty is in XST, Applebee and Olbrychowski are on the DL. Lastly both Samuel and Consuegra were off-season MLFA signings who didn’t pan out and have already been released.

Historically the hardest to predict, the Low-A team. Of the guesses for the rotation last fall, we only got Mooneyham right. Turnbull and Jordan were bumped up a level. Purke is still hurt. Of the “competitors” the team flat out released Monar and Hansen to my surprise. Monar was really good in Auburn last year, and while Bobby Hansen wasn’t nearly as dominant as a starter, I thought he’d at least get a shot at being a loogy after so many years in the organization. Jack McGeary was selected out of the org during the minor league phase of the rule-5 draft. Lee is in XST limbo right now.

So who are these surprising Low-A rotation guys? I thought Anderson would be relegated to the bullpen in Low-A; instead he’s the opening day starter. I thought Pineyro would repeat short-season ball but he made the full-season team. And lastly I thought Pena was destined for another season in short-A.

Rauh and Schwartz, after I thought they had shots in the rotation in high-A, seem to be taking the roles of “2nd starters” for now, each having gone multiple innings in relief of the starter. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them becoming full time starters if one of the 5 guys ahead of them falter.

Most of the rest of the predicted bullpen are 2012 signees who are currently amongst a large group of extended spring training guys who will be battling it out for short-season jobs with 2013 signees. And we seem to have a very large group of them; the big board lists in excess of 30 hurlers who are currently still in the organization, who are not on the D/L officially, but who are not assigned to one of the four full season teams. That’s a lot of arms for just a handful of spots in short-A and the rookie league after the 2013 draft occurs.

In part I on this topic yesterday, we talked about the Nats Rule 5 draft history. Today we’ll talk about Parts II and III: who the Nats may think about protecting ahead of this year’s Rule 5 draft, and what the team may be seeking if they participated and drafted a player or two in the Rule 5 draft themselves.

Part II: Nationals Rule-5 Draft Protection Candidates.

I kvetched a little bit about this topic in this space earlier this off-season, talking about the lack of roster space for the upcoming Rule 5 draft. I suspected that as a result of MLB deals given to guys like Anthony Rendon and Matthew Purke, in addition to the glut of guys we had to add mid season, we may be seeing some guys not getting protected this year that would be in other years. As of today, the Nats 40-man roster sits at 36 players with a bit of immediate room to spare (we could non-tender the likes of John Lannan, Tom Gorzelanny or Jesus Flores (speaking of Rule 5 additions) in a pinch, and I think Carlos Rivero may be imminently DFA’d), but we also have several 25-man roster spots departing via free agency that need to be filled, quickly filling back in those empty spots. So, perhaps the issue isn’t as bad as I thought it might be.

That being said, here’s a look at some of our Rule 5 eligible guys that may warrant protection. For “official” opinions here’s Mark Zuckerman‘s Rule5 post, along with Adam Kilgore‘s version of the same analysis. This is a combination of first-time eligible guys for the 2012 draft (mostly, guys who were college junior draftees from 2009 or high school draftees in 2008), prior year eligible guys who have suddenly worked their way onto the radar, and any International FA signing from 2008 or before (they are treated the same way as high school age draftees). Working off a list that Luke Erickson posted LAST november, along with his post on the same topic this week, and of course referencing the two great nats farm system resources maintained by “SpringfieldFan” (and formerly by Brian Oliver): the Nats Draft Tracker and the Nats Big Board, here’s some thoughts on protection candidates:

Stronger Candidates to protect

Nathan Karns: he finally had an injury-free season, and he put up numbers as expected when the team gave him an above-slot deal in 2009. He is older, and only projects as a AA starter in 2013, but he is an intriguing starter prospect for the Nats in 2014.

Destin Hood: I don’t think the team is ready to give up on the long-term 2008 2nd round project. His numbers have been increasing as he reportedly is learning the game better. I suspect the team protects him to protect their investment.

Danny Rosenbaum; the “Ace” of Harrisburg this year, and our furthest advanced legitimate starter prospect, Rosenbaum projects more like a Tommy Milone or John Lannan right now. I’d suspect that the team may protect him, thinking that someone could stash him as a loogy for a year. I’m not sure his ceiling is in the Nats rotation, but he could be a good trade candidate. He hit the DL late last year, which makes it slightly less likely that a team would take a flier on him, but his track record warrants his mention.

Patrick McCoy: he just repeated AA and despite already being Rule-5 eligible last year he improved on his numbers in 2012. Why protect him? Because this team needs a Loogy, and McCoy may be the leading lefty reliever in our upper-minor leagues.

Jeff Kobernus has put up consistent numbers his whole career, but still projects as a power-less middle infielder. Would the team protect him, thinking he has a chance to become the next Steve Lombardozzi? Would the team protect him just to protect their bonus money?

Weaker candidates to protect

Trevor Holder: a 3rd round pick roundly criticized at the time of being an underslot money saver, Holder had decent peripherals in high-A and AA this year. But, he doesn’t seem to project as the dominant right-hander he was in college and seems likely to top out as an org-arm. Despite his 3rd round pedigree, I don’t see a team taking a flier on him in rule-5.

Pat Lehman; a local guy (GWU), but despite having good numbers in AAA he remains a very common commodity; a right handed minor league reliever. Even if he’s drafted, it isn’t that great a loss because of the depth we already have at the position.

Paul Demny; despite making the AFL team this year, I don’t quite see Demny as being a draft risk. His ERA this year and in years past has been substandard.

Robert Gilliam; only really mentioned here since we just acquired him last off-season in the Gio Gonzalez trade and the team probably doesn’t want to lose him, but his 6.37 ERA in AA makes it extremely unlikely someone grabs him in the Rule 5.

Erik Davis: technically rule-5 eligible last year, he stepped up this year and put up pretty dominant AA numbers. As with Lehman, he’s a righty reliever in AA so the odds of his getting picked (or protected) seem slim.

Players not worth protecting for various Reasons

Now, there’s a bunch of “good names” that are Rule 5 eligible in our system but who are not listed here, including guys who toiled as high as AA last year. Anyone not listed here is probably not going to be missed, even if they are drafted. Plus, the likelihood of a decent pitcher prospect who has never played above A-ball being drafted in rule-5 is extemely slim. Most of the guys above are mentioned because of their capability to be “stashed” on a MLB roster. This includes:

last year’s departures Brad Meyers (coming off injury) and Erik Komatsu (clearly been passed on the organizational OF depth chart). Yes they got picked last year, but both got returned and I’d be surprised to see them picked again.

Jeff Mandel may be an accomplished AAA pitcher, but I don’t think he’s anything more than that.

Rob Wort hasn’t advanced far enough up the chain to be considered.

Justin Bloxom could be a dark horse prospect next year, but only made it to AA the second half of last year.

Who would I protect, If I was the GM? I’d protect Karns, Hood, Rosenbaum and McCoy right now, filling the four current openings on the roster. If a move needs to be made (a FA signing or a trade), then you make one-for-one DFAs or non-tenders as needed. You have 40-man room; might as well use it. My order of protection is probably Karns, McCoy, Hood and Rosenbaum (from most important to least important to protect). Odds are that the team only opts to protect a couple of guys to give immediate roster flexibility heading into the winter meetings.

Part III:Might the Nats participate in the Rule-5 draft this year?

This year’s Rule 5 draft has some intrigue for the team; unlike last year, we have definite holes in the bullpen and on the roster which can be “more easily” filled via the Rule 5 draft. We need a lefty out of the bullpen, we need a backup middle infielder and we need a 5th starter. The odds of finding the latter in the rule 5 draft are very slim, but the odds of finding one of the first two are better. If you look at the last couple of Rule 5 drafts, nearly every player drafted is either a Pitcher or a Middle Infielder. Most teams carry a second backup middle infielder who gets very little playing time, ideal for “hiding” rule 5 draftees. And of course every bullpen has a “mop up” guy who pitches once or twice a week in low-leverage situations, also a great place to hide a rule-5 guy.

Besides, the “penalty” for drafting a guy and returning him is pretty small in baseball terms: $25,000 net (it costs $50,000 fee to select a player, then if you “offer” them back the original team has to refund $25,000 of that fee). So I’d be surprised honestly if the team didn’t roll the dice with at least a flier on either of the two needs mentioned above.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of the Rule 5 draft any longer. It was created as a way to liberate players who were stuck in farm systems behind established players (much the way that minor league free agency rules attempted to do the same), but now seems to be a cheap method of teams to get an extended tryout of players. I’ve now come to believe that the draft is not necessarily in the best interests of the players or the teams; just read below for the organizational transaction chaos that followed players. It also seems like a high number of players who get drafted in rule-5 immediately suffer season-ending injuries; coincidence or correlation? If you’re a rule-5 drafted arm, the drafting team knows you must perform at a MLB level to stay in the organization. Wouldn’t that imply there’s added pressure to compete, leading to overthrowing and arm injuries? Plus, teams that lose players often get them returned damaged and having lost a season of service time. I suppose players are the ones that are pro-Rule 5 draft, in that it immediately means a promotion to the 40-man roster, MLB service time and higher pay.

In the end, it makes for a good reason to write a 2,500 word blog post, and it may result in our team having new prospects to evaluate and dream about, so perhaps I protest too much.

After finishing the evaluation of all 6 minor league pitching staffs, plus finally finishing (and posting yesterday) the MLB season review, here’s an entirely too-early projection of what the staffs and rotations may look like in 2013. This post assumes for the time being that all major and minor league FAs will opt out and we’ll be looking to fill spots. In these cases I’ll mark FAs to be as needed, though we very well may acquire these players in trade.

Note: some of these projections are slightly different from the original reviews posted in the per-level links, to account for moves, performances and roster moves that have already happened or seem set to happen this off-season. I’ve also made some slight adjustments in order to make the rotations and bullpens work at each level.

MLB Narrative: 4/5ths of the rotation are no-brainers. The 5th starter is the question mark for 2013. Do we re-sign Jackson and pay him more as a 5th starter than our big 3 guys? It doesn’t seem so after the team declined to give him a Qualifying Offer. Do we trade from depth (RH relief, middle infield) and find a 5th starter that way? Do we find a 5th starter from within? Meanwhile the bullpen is now full of hard throwing righties, but we could lose all 3 of our lefties. We may need to work the phones to retain these guys, or else we’re on the FA market. I think (despite my discussion about converting Garcia to a 5th starter) that he’ll remain in the bullpen and may bump Henry Rodriguez out of a job. One of our two closer-quality guys (Clippard and Storen) could be moved, cashing in on their value, which could open up a spot for a FA acquisition or a promotion from AAA.

Lots to be decided this off-season for Mike Rizzo, and this hasn’t even mentioned the dominos that will fall if/when the team makes a contract decision on Adam LaRoche.

AAA Narrative: We have a lot of long-serving minor leaguers here; as it stands now only a few of them are even 40-man roster guys (Maya, Perry, Garcia). The modern AAA roster construction is one of “spare parts” and prospects; do we have enough prospects to cover for injuries at the MLB level? Which one of these AAA starters would Nats fans feel comfortable filling in were one of our starters to go down with injury? Perhaps the Nats need to work on some starter depth via trade. Brad Meyerswas just returned from the Yankees after a season-long DL stint after being Rule-5 drafted, and seems likely to slot right back into the AAA rotation when he’s healthy. Perry seems set to get a 4th option and should slot in here, looking to convert back to being a starter. Broderick is a former Rule-5 pick and was claimed from St. Louis, who dumped him late last season. I don’t think he’s anything more than a 4-A starter, but the organization seems to like him.

AA narrative: We have a couple of interesting candidates in the AA rotation to start, but what may be more interesting is to see whether the likes of Gilliam and Demny hold onto their spots with the talent ready to rise up out of high-A. Meanwhile, the bullpen has some interesting arms to keep an eye on. I forgot to mention Solis in the AA write-up but remembered him here. Two big questions for me in this AA rotation for 2013: 1) is Rosenbaum for real or is he going to sputter out before reaching MLB potential? And, 2) Is Nathan Karns ready to make the leap? I think Karns can quickly put his name in the mix to get promoted to AAA based on his performance in 2012.

High-A narrative: there’s too many arms for too few slots right now in all three of the A-levels. There’s a ton of release candidates, and some guys who could be higher or lower. I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the organizational meetings where all this evaluation is done. Meyer dominated High-A last year; could he start in AA? Barrett (by virtue of his AFL appearance) may also be AA material.

The same goes for the Low-A team below: I’ve got 5 logical rotation candidates, another 4 guys who make sense to be in the low-A rotation, and a slew of guys who seem to have earned their way to the low-A bullpen. But there’s only 7 slots to go around.

We acknowledge the folly of trying to predict short-season staffs which will mostly be populated with 2013 draftees, especially under the new CBA that shortens negotiation times, making it more likely college seniors are drafted (who sign quickly with zero leverage) and get playing. That being said, there will definitely be guys who stay in extended spring training for a couple months and then get placed on these rosters along with new draftees. Here’s some guesses based on 2012 performances; all blank spots filled by 2013 draftees or by some of the guys who drop down from low-A.

I stumbled across this post, titled “Updated Minor League Rotation Predictions for 2012,” posted March 1st 2012, while looking for something else last week. And I thought to myself, hey now that I’ve finished the reviews of the minor league teams, lets see how I did predicting the rotations at the beginning of the season! I’ve also culled through the post-2011 season review posts for some preliminary guesses at the time.

(Note: I linked to NationalsProspects.com Luke Erickson‘s guesses in the above link for another perspective in the 2012 spring training).

Players are bolded the first time they’re mentioned, but not afterwards.

AAA:

Sept 11 Guess: Maya, Milone, Stammen, Meyers, Peacock, Martis

Mar 12 Guess: Stammen, Maya, Arneson, Ballard, Buschmann

Opening Day Rotation: Atkins, Roark, Maya, Lannan and Duke

5 guys with the most starts in 2012: Maya, Roark, Duke, Lannan, Atkins

What happened? My prediction was way, way off; only Maya was the constant, but we knew that the second he proved he couldn’t get out MLB hitters last fall. The team traded two of its probable AAA starters (Peacock and Milone), lost a third to the Rule-5 draft (Meyers, who honestly we probably will get back once the Yankees are done screwing around with him) and a 4th to Minor League Free Agency (Martis). Meanwhile, who knew that Lannan wasn’t going to make the MLB opening day roster? Then, the team released Buschmann before he appeared in a game (he played 2012 in the Tampa Bay organization). Ballard was a starter, just not in AAA. Stammen, in a surprise to me, made the conversion from AAA starter in 2011 to MLB bullpen guy and had a great year. Lastly, instead of using more internal options like Roark the team signed two MLFAs in Duke and Atkins. I suppose I could have guessed that the team would go with Roark before Arneson as a starter (given Arneson’s rubber-armed handling in 2011). It just goes to show how much the creation of AAA teams has changed over the years.

AA:

Sept 11 Guess: Rosenbaum, Bronson, Demny, Olbrychowski, Solis

Mar 12 Guess: Rosenbaum, Bronson, Demny, Olbrychowski, Gilliam

Opening Day Rotation: Gilliam, Demny, Mandel, Rosenbaum and Ballard

5 guys with the most starts in 2012: Rosenbaum, Demny, Gilliam, Perry, Ballard/Pucetas

We were a bit closer here, getting 3 of the 5 guesses right. Sammy Solis would absolutely have been in this rotation if not for his Tommy John surgery; we’ll cross our fingers for him to return in 2013. When Solis went out, org-arm Mandel filled in. Evan Bronson is still with the organization on Milb.com but never threw an inning in 2012 and isn’t on the Big Board. I can’t find a single bit of google information indicating if he’s still with the team or not. Weird. Meanwhile I had just guessed too high for Olbrychowski; he spent most of 2012 as a starter in Potomac. Nobody could have guessed that we’d have traded Balester for Perry, that Perry would have stunk as a reliever, and then would show up in AA remaking himself as a starter. Ballard and Pucetas were MLFA pickups designed to fill holes in the system, though based on his prior experience I had Ballard pegged in the AAA rotation.

5 guys with the most starts in 2012: Grace, Ray, Swynenberg, Olbrychowski, Karns

I was far off here as well; Purke got hurt, Meyer, Hill and Karns started lower than I would have guessed and Selik was converted to a reliever. I was right only on Grace (thought technically I thought Olbrychowski would be a starter, just not back in Potomac). Winters was a MLFA (the fifth such MLFA who has appeared as a primary starter in our top three levels; is this a statement of some sort?). As we’ll see in a moment, I was right about Hansen, just wrong about the level. Lastly Swynenberg came out of nowhere; he was effective in middle-relief in low-A; who knew he’d win a spot in the high-A rotation? I thought Ray would have done a few turns in low-A; instead he debuted in Potomac and struggled to make the jump. I lost faith in Karns between September 2011 and March 2012; as it turned out he was one of the 5 top starters (in terms of appearances) for the year while putting in a career season.

5 guys with the most starts in 2012: Hill, Meyer, Turnbull, Estevez, Hansen

What happened? The team traded Cole. Jordan was injured more than we were led to believe in late 2011 (he had Tommy John surgery after the season was over). I predicted Hansen, Ray, Hill, Estevez, Meyers and Dupra would be starters, just got the levels wrong. My Mar 12 guesses were somewhat accurate in that we got Turnbull and Karns right. McGeary struggled through yet another injury filled season and may be nearing the end of his baseball career. I thought Estevez was getting squeezed out with all these high-profile starters rising up. I figured McKenzie had lost his starting shot; clearly his performance in 2012 should end his chances at getting another 2013 starting shot. I guess the lesson here is that it can be awful difficult to determine the difference between a High-, Low- and Short-A guy.

5 guys with the most starts in 2012: Encarnation, Monar, Lee, Mooneyham, Fischer/Pineyro

My guess of 3 returners and 2 draft picks wasn’t entirely accurate; there wasn’t a single 2012 draft pick in the 2012 opening day rotation. We got Baez pegged correctly but the rest of the predictions were off. Manny Rodriguez, a converted infielder, spent the whole year on the 60-day DL. Dupra was in high-A. Meanwhile, a couple of guys dropping down from Low-A (Jordan, Encarnation) comprised the rotation at the beginning of the season. Monar was a repeater from 2011 who didn’t get a ton of innings last year. Eventually some 2012 draftees (Mooneyham, Fischer and others) got starts as expected, and helped drive Auburn to the playoffs.

5 guys with the most starts in 2012: Vasquez, Mieses, Hudgins, Selsor, Pineyro/Schwartz

Finally we got one right (well, right from Mar 12 guess anyway). The GCL rotation was Mieses, 3 DSL graduates and one 2012 draftee. Eventually more 2012 draftees (Hudgins, Selsor and others) consumed most of the rest of the starts. King disappeared from the rosters; he’s still in the organization but was never assigned this season. Injured? Disciplinary issues? There seems to be so much inconsistency in the DSL graduates that it almost isn’t worth tracking them until they appear in a higher level. Honestly, this is why I don’t really follow the Dominican Summer League teams either.

Phew; that’s a lot of Nats minor league starters. As it showed, its really, really difficult to predict this stuff from a computer in Northern Virginia, scouting the stat lines. But its really fun, so we’ll continue to do it :-).

Here’s the High-A version of the 2012 season pitching staff review. I’m going down the line from top to bottom; AAA is here, AA is here. As with the other reviews, we’ll look at the main rotation, the substitute and spot starters, then focus on key relievers. Rehab appearances are generally not mentioned.

Potomac starters. The rotation started the season with Winters, Hansen, Olbrychowski, Grace and Swynenberg. Lets see how the original rotation and other primary starters fared.

Kyle Winters, an off season minor league free agent pickup, was Potomac’s opening day starter. But he wasn’t long for the rotation; he got shelled en-route to posting a 7.02 era in 8 starts before getting released. It does not seem like anyone else picked him up (except perhaps in Indy ball). Lets be honest; it is never a good sign to have minor league free agents playing significant roles on high-A ball clubs. Outlook for next season: in another organization or out of baseball.

High-A proved to be too much for Bobby Hansen, who put up a 5.85 ERA in 6 starts (9 total appearances) before being moved back to Low-A, where he spent 2011. He’s young; he has yet to turn 23, so even low-A isn’t the worst place for him. But he’ll be entering his 6th pro season in 2013 and you’d like to see him throw more than 50 innings in a season. Outlook for next season: see the Low-A post.

Adam Olbrychowskiwasn’t able to build on his 2011 season in High-A, regressing badly and posting a 6.24 ERA in 26 appearances (16 starts). He lost his rotation spot halfway through the season and didn’t fare well out of the pen. This trade didn’t work out for either team really (the Nats traded Justin Maxwell to the Yankees for Olbrychowski in January 2011 and released him themselves; he now plays for Houston). Outlook for next season: either one last shot in the High-A bullpen or released.

Matthew Graceput in his third year as a full-time starter with the Organization, and he continues to be hit or miss. On the season he posted a 9-12 record with a 4.84 ERA and 83/48 k/bb ratio in 141 1/3 innings, but you never know what you’re getting with him. His final start of the season featured 8 shutout innings, but his first start in August was a 3-inning 9 hit meltdown. Outlook for next season: the organization stuck with him after a 5.17 ERA in a full season of low-A; no reason to think they won’t continue to stick with him in 2013. AA rotation, perhaps re-peating High-A if the numbers don’t work out.

Matt Swynenbergwas in and out of the rotation, not really excelling as either a starter or a reliever on the year. 7-5, 4.92 ERA on the season. He was a bit unlucky on the season; he had a .343 BABIP and his FIP was a bit lower than his ERA. Outlook for next season: he’s still young (turned 23 in February) and has plenty of time to improve. And, given that he was a 28th round draft pick, anything he contributes is absolute gravy to the organization). Look for him to be leading the High-A rotation in 2013 with an eye for mid-season promotion.

Robbie Raywas last year’s sensation, an 19-yr old dominating in Low-A. He clearly suffered from a sophomore slump, going 4-12 with a 6.56 ERA in 22 “starts” (I put that in quotes since he had one 5-inning “relief” appearance in June). What happened? His K’s were down, Walks up, HRs up, BABIP unlucky, and his FIP was a full point and a half lower than his ERA. So it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Plus, he’s only 20 in high-A, where a lot of college guys take a year and a half to get to. I’m not worried at all; i’ll bet he’s back to being dominant in 2013 repeating the level. Outlook for next season: back in the High-A rotation.

Nathan Karnsfinally got a healthy full season of pitching under his belt after getting paid 3rd round money as a 12th round draft pick in the high-spending 2009 draft, and the organization finally got a look at what Karns can do: A 2.17 ERA in 24 appearances (18 starts) across 116 innings between low- and high-A. This was no fluke either; all his advanced stats support his performance and give reason to believe he’ll continue to develop. He was named the Organization’s Pitcher of the Year for 2012, usually a great indicator of future success for this team. He’s a big guy with a great pitching frame (6’5″, 230lbs) and an even better mustache (see his profile picture at milb.com). I think Karns may be our best or 2nd best starter prospect right now. A ight concern may be his hitting the DL in mid-August after a couple of mediocre outings; I’d guess that he’s reached an innings limit for the season and was shutdown with an unspecified injury. This may also explain why he’s not appearing in the AFL after such a season. Outlook for next season: AA rotation.

Trevor Holderfinally got promoted past high-A after repeating the league for the 4th time in 2012. He got 10 starts in Potomac before being moved up mid-season. He was pretty good in his 9 starts in High-A this year: 3-3 with a 3.72 ERA. Outlook for next season: (from the AA post): AA Rotation.

Alex Meyer excelled in 7 late-season starts in Potomac after throwing 90 innings in low-A to start the year. Final high-A stats: 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA in 39 innings. His ancillary numbers declined slightly moving from low- to high-A (as one would expect), but his core capabilities seem to be the same. He’s a HUGE guy (6’9″) and the downward plane on his fastball makes it incredibly difficult to hit in the air (only 6 homers allowed in 139IP). A lot of pundits (myself included) were critical of Meyer starting in low-A as such an advanced draft prospect, but his numbers in high-A (a more legitimate evaluation of his skills age- and experience-wise) give great hope. The organization has had him working on mechanics all year, worried that such a big guy was going to struggle to repeat his delivery (as highlighted by this Baseball America article, subscribers only sorry). After being basically a 2-pitch guy in college, Meyer has reportedly added a 2-seam fastball that he throws at the same velocity as his 4-seamer to go with an 87-mph change-up. Suddenly he’s a 4-pitch guy (2 plus-plus, one plus and one fringe) and that gives him a great chance of remaining a starter. A 6’9″ throwing upper 90s has to look like 100+ to a hitter based on his release point, and despite most scouts opinion that he’d make a fantastic shut-down closer with his 2 plus-plus pitches, he has more value to the team as a starter. Outlook for next season: I think he starts in High-A rotation again with an eye towards quick promotion to AA.

Robert Gilliam underperformed in AA, got demoted to high-A and gave Potomac 7 up-and-down starts down the stretch. Final numbers in Potomac: 1-2, 4.25 ERA in 36ip. Outlook for next season: (cut-n-pasted from AA post): The team likes him as a starter; i’m guessing they give him another whirl in the AA rotation with Meyer sitting in High-A waiting in the wings.

Taylor Hillgot three late-season starts after toiling all year in Hagerstown. Outlook for next season: see Low-A post.

Other guys who got spot starts here and there (non-rehab):

Ryan Demminserved as the mop-up/swing man for the team, giving them a K/9 reliever with a 4.57 ERA on the season. He got a couple of spot starts but only went 7 innings between the two. He gives up a lot of hits but doesn’t walk guys. He could continue to be a useful middle reliever. Outlook for next season: Likely the high-A bullpen again, though he could slot up to AA if the numbers don’t work out.

Paul Applebee, as with Demmin, was used mostly as a long man and got a spot start before going down with injury in June. He wasn’t great when he did pitch (5.00 era in 36ip), but he’s been useful in the organization for a while. Outlook for next season: High-A mop-up guy again, not knowing how severe his arm injury is.

Potomac Relievers: taking a look at the relief corps at the end of the season. They used an awful lot of them.

Neil Hollandcontinued an excellent string of seasons for this organization since being drafted in 2010. He was close to unhittable in 2012: a 1.64 era in 60 innings and a sub 1.00 whip. That’s fantastic. Outlook for next season: see if he can repeat his performance in AA.

Rob Wort had, frankly, a pretty amazing season as Potomac’s closer. He had an era of 2.38 over 56 2/3 innings, and had 13 saves. That’s not why he was amazing; He had 95 Ks in those same 56 2/3 innings. That is a 15.09 K/9 rate!! For a 30-th round draft pick (i.e., a guy who was never really expected to make it out of rookie camp), that’s incredible. Outlook for next season: closer in AA.

Joe Testa couldn’t repeat his excellent 2011 Potomac results, putting up an ugly 5.17 era in 38 IP. The ugly part? A perfect 1-1 ratio of walks to strikeouts on the year (31 walks, 31 Ks). He turning 27 in December and is entering his 6th minor league season; I think its safe to say 2013 is a “show me” year for Testa. Outlook for next season: hard to see him moved up to AA; I see him repeating in the High-A bullpen, perhaps a pure Loogy.

Cameron Selik looked to have “figured out” the bullpen after being a starter for most of 2011, and had a fantastic 34/3 k/bb ratio in 22 high-A innings. He earned a promotion, but begged out of his AA debut with what probably was a torn Lat. He didn’t pitch again after June 5th. A shame, since it would have been nice to see how he fared upon reaching AA. Outlook for next season: I’d start him in the High-A bullpen again to make sure he’s healthy, then promote him up to AA.

Aaron Barretthas gone from unknown 9th rounder to organizational top prospect in one season; after tearing through Low-A with 52 Ks in 34 innings, he allowed just 2 runs in 17 high-A innings to close out the year. His performance earned him a trip to the Arizona Fall League along with a number of other high-profile Nats prospects. Outlook for next season: As with Selik, I’d imagine he belongs in the AA bullpen; we’ll see if the numbers work out. If not he starts in Potomac looking for a quick jump.

Josh Smoker, the Nats poster child for NOT drafting high school arms early, threw a grand total of 9.2 innings between three levels this year. Its hard to believe, but he’ll play his 6th minor league season in our system in 2013 and then he’ll likely move on. Outlook for next season: if healthy, High-A bullpen to try one last time to resurrect his Nats career.

Other Relievers who appeared in High-A of note (not including Rehabbing MLBers): Outlook for next season for all of these guys seems the same: either continued “org guy” middle reliever or minor league FA in another organization.

Adam Carr, a 28-yr old in high-A after spending most of 2011 in AAA. Org arm.

Jimmy Barthmaier looked great in 19 High-A innings; he should since he’s 28 and in his 8th minor league season.

Shane McCatty struggled through a 6-week mid-season injury and an 8.83 ERA in high-A. Nepotism seems to indicate that he’ll get another shot in 2013, deserved or not.

Wilson Eusebio was promoted twice, both times inexplicably based on his performance, and ended up getting lit up in Potomac. He may be out of baseball after 2012.

Summary

Summary Potomac’s 5 opening day starters finished the season with these ERAs: 7.02, 5.85, 6.24, 4.84 and 4.92. Thankfully guys like Meyer, Holder and Karns replaced some of these starts with decent ones later on in the season. They got great performances up and down the bullpen though, which helped the team to remain in playoff contention late into the 2nd half (despite their sub .500 record). At least they were dominant at home (21-13 first half, 21-15 second half), giving the Potomac fans a lot to cheer for.

Here’s the AA version of the 2012 season pitching staff review. I’m going down the line from top to bottom; AAA is here. As with the other reviews, we’ll look at the main rotation, the substitute and spot starters, then focus on key relievers. Rehab appearances are not discussed.

Harrisburg starters. The rotation started the season with Gilliam, Demny, Mandel, Rosenbaum and Ballard. Lets see how the original rotation and other primary starters fared.

Robert Gilliam, the “forgotten man” in the mega Gio Gonalez trade in December, made the opening day start for Harrisburg but didn’t live up to his billing. He got 13 starts before going to the bullpen, and then eventually getting demoted to Potomac. Season AA numbers: 3-7, 6.38 ERA. Outlook for next season: The team likes him as a starter; i’m guessing they give him another whirl in the AA rotation.

Paul Demnytook a step back in his progressive career with the Nats, going 6-8 with a 5.43 ERA in 23 starts before moving primarily to the bullpen at the end of the season. He’s still very young (just turned 23) but he’s finishing his 5th pro season and 2013 will be his “walk year.” Interestingly, the Nats named Demny one of their AFL participants, an odd selection based on his performance this season. Outlook for next season: as with Gilliam, I’d be surprised if Demny remains a starter. AA bullpen as a swingman unless the team needs a 5th starter.

Jeff Mandelstarted the year in the Harrisburg rotation and put in 11 middling starts before getting moved to AAA to replace an equally ineffective Mitch Atkins. This marked the third straight season he had started in AA and moved to AAA, a sure sign of an organizational arm who filled in where needed. Outlook for next season: see AAA post.

Danny Rosenbaumwas supposed to be the Ace, the Star of this rotation. He was the highest-ranked prospect and was the Organization’s best starting pitching prospects. He didn’t really live up to his billing, going 8-10 with a 3.94 ERA and a 1.31 whip in 26 starts. He looked great his first 10 starts and then struggled the rest of the season. He turns 25 in the off-season and is Rule-5 Eligible. I think the team has to protect him. Outlook for next season: Added to 40-man roster ahead of the Rule-5 draft but back in AA to start 2013, with an eye on a mid-season promotion to AAA.

Mike Ballardwas a Minor League Free Agent signed from Baltimore (after failing to make it in the Houston organization after 5 minor league seasons). You would have thought he’d have been in AAA but started the season in the AA rotation. After 12 up-and-down starts he got absolutely pounded on June 13th, hit the DL with “elbow discomfort” and has been there ever since. Final season stats: 1-5, 4.31 ERA. Outlook for next season: released. You hate to cut a guy with a season-ending injury, but business is business.

Ryan Perry, astutely acquired for Collin Balester (who failed to impress in Detroit and was DFA’d earlier this year) in spring training and he competed for the MLB bullpen. He featured briefly, was ineffective and was optioned to AAA. The team took a look at his repertoire and decided to try to convert him to a starter in AA. The results? Pretty good; a 2.84 ERA and 1.11 whip in 13 AA starts. Outlook for next season: here’s the problem with Perry; he’s out of options for 2013. He was added to a 40-man roster in April 2009, and burned options in 2009, 2011 and this year. So he has to either make the MLB club or be DFA’d at the end of spring training. So look for Perry to compete for the #5 starter job or be considered trade bait in the off-season.

Kevin Pucetasis another Minor League Free Agent who probably was too experienced for AA (as with Ballard); he spent the previous 3 seasons in the Pacific Coast League. For Harrisburg in 2012 he was excellent out of the pen early (posting a 1.59 era in 34 relief innings) and then was relatively mediocre in 12 starts (5-5 with a 4.81 ERA). You have to think he was merely filler for a gap in pitcher development in this system and will be looking for work elsewhere for 2013. Outlook for next season: with another organization.

Trevor Holderfinally looked like he was putting things together early in Potomac, earned a mid-season promotion to Harrisburg and put up a 3.78 ERA in 10 starts (9 actual starts plus a 10th game where the “starter” went one inning on a rehab assignment). The knock on Holder was that he was a total signability pick in 2009 after the team spent big on Strasburg and Storen. It is good to see him putting some things together. Outlook for next season: AA rotation.

Ryan Tatusko got 8 starts in 27 appearances in a long-man/spot-starter/swingman role for the team. He was slightly better as a reliever versus a starter (his splits showing a 2.72 ERA with greater than a k/inning as a reliever, a 4.50 ERA in his 8 starts). I have always liked Tatusko (not the least reason of which is that he writes a blog) and was eager to see him contributed after he came over (with Tanner Roark) in the Cristian Guzman trade. But his time with the organization may be at an end; he just finished his 6th minor league season and he took a step back with the organization. Outlook for next season: I thought he’d have been in AAA by now; perhaps 2013 is the year. AAA swingman.

Other guys who got spot starts here and there (non-rehab):

Brian Broderick: the team’s former rule-5 pick never made it with St. Louis, and when he was released the Nats picked him up. He got a handful of appearances down the stretch and finished the season with 3 starts. The team clearly likes the guy and seems willing to give him a chance. Outlook for next season: AAA rotation.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx, he had a couple starts early before getting promoted up to AAA, where he probably should have started the season based on his experience. Outlook for next season: (as copied from the AAA post): with another organization.

Adam Olbrychowski got called up to make the last start of the season. Outlook for next season: see High-A post.

Of note: Chien-Ming Wangmade no less than NINE rehab starts in AA (and fifteen overall minor league rehab starts). You can argue whether or not the organization was “bending” the DL/service time rules or not; either way I can’t see how Wang stays with this team for 2013 and beyond.

Harrisburg Relievers: taking a look at the relief corps at the end of the season. They used an awful lot of them.

Marcos Frias finishes his 6th pro season taking a step back from his 2011 numbers in high-A. On the year, a 4.82 ERA in 65 1/3 relief innings. He’s still very young, being a DSL graduate and yet to turn 24. Technically he’s rule-5 eligible but its hard to see a team taking a flier on a RH reliever without knock-out stuff. Outlook for next season: back in AA bullpen.

Erik Daviswas generally excellent all season for Harrisburg, posting a 2.52 ERA in 64 1/3 relief innings. He earned a late season promotion to AAA. The former starter and trade bounty for Alberto Gonzalez technically is rule-5 eligible but the risk of losing him seems slight. Outlook for next season: AAA bullpen, looking to become the next Christian Garcia.

Patrick McCoyhad a pretty good season out of the pen in Harrisburg; 7-3 with a 3.70 era in 58 1/3 innings. He was rule-5 eligible in 2011 but didn’t get picked up. Now he’s one year from being a Minor League Free Agent. Outlook for next season: AA or perhaps AAA bullpen, whoever needs a left hander.

Hector Nelo, who was released by Texas in April of 2011, finished the year with strong numbers as the team’s primary closer. He had a 2.73 era and 16 saves in 52 2/3s innings over 47 appearances. More importantly his K/9 rates really jumped from 2011. He’s the kind of big-time arm that Mike Rizzo loves (he can reportedly hit 100mph) and should get some looks going foward. He’s tied to the organization for one more season. Outlook for next season: the closer in AAA.

Rafael Martinwas as unbelievably bad statistically in 2012 as he was good in 2011. How do you go from a 1.65 ERA across 2 organizations in 2011 to a 6.69 ERA in 2012? Perhaps the answer is either a late-season injury or fatigue; in his last four appearances in AA this season he gave up 11 earned runs; the 6 appearances before that just one. He’s no spring chicken though; he’s already 28 and is far far too old for AA at this point. Outlook for next season: bullpen in AAA and hoping for a rebound to 2011’s numbers.

Cameron Selik pitched 1/3 of an inning in AA before a season-ending injury. Outlook for next season: See High-A writeup.

Other Relievers who appeared in AA of note (not including Rehabbing MLBers): Outlook for next season for all of these guys seems the same: either continued “org guy” middle reliever or minor league FA in another organization.

Zech Zinicola came back to the team after being rule-5 drafted in late 2009, and remains an organizational arm.

Jimmy Barthmaier split time between AA and high-A. Org arm.

Corey VanAllen was demoted down from AAA and then got hurt in July. Org arm, maybe a loogy in AA again.

Summary

Harrisburg struggled to find a good consistent group of starters. My guesses on what role these guys will play next season list too many guys getting dumped into the bullpen, so it may be interesting to see who gets another shot at starting in 2013. Unfortunately these injuries and inconsistencies cost the team a near-certain 2nd half playoff spot.

With Spring Training in full swing, most of the focus is on the Nationals 25-man roster and who may or may not make it. Even with the additions to the major league roster, our minor league starter development is still incredibly important to this team for the long run. Despite having Strasburg, Zimmermann and Gonzalez each locked up for many years (roughly, 2016, 2016 and 2018 respectively with options exercised), the rest of the rotation is not exactly set in stone for the long run. Wang and Jackson are on one-year FA contracts and Lannan doesn’t seem a lock to be tendered this coming off season (where he’ll face arbitration for the third time and, if he stays here and puts in 30 starts, could be in line for something close to $8M in 2013). That is, if Lannan is still even with the team in a year’s time (he seems surplus to requirements right now and may be a trade candidate).

Even more importantly, three key starters in our farm system went the other way for Gonzalez. Our 2012 AAA starter safety net of Milone and Peacock is now set to be the 4th and 5th starter in Oakland, and our most electric younger arm (Cole) is now one of Billy Beane‘s best prospects.

That being said, lets talk about what the 2012 minor league rotations may look like, and where interest may lie with up and coming arms. Experienced readers will note that, by and large, I only focus on minor league starters. That is because, for the very large part, that pitchers rise up in the minors as starters and only get converted to be relievers upon failing as starters. If you look at our current bullpen; Clippard, Rodriguez, Burnett, Gorzelanny, Detwiler and Lidge are all former starters, converted to being relievers either because of poor performance or for physical reasons. Only Storen has grown up entirely as a reliever. Therefore, the odds of a guy who is already pitching in relief in the lower minors rising up to be a part of the MLB bullpen is relatively slim. Loogies? Another matter, but still a difficult path (just ask someone like Josh Smoker). Therefore, I tend to focus on Starters with occasional lip service given to closers per level and other relievers who are pitching their way into promotions.

Luke Erickson has posted some predictions (for AAA, AA, high-A and low-A), I put in an updated guess on Syracuse’s rotation post Gonzalez trade, and I had a series of posts at the end of last season wrapping up each level with predictions for 2012. From all those posts, here’s my preliminary guesses on the rotations for the minor league rotations:

AAA: Stammen, Maya, Arneson, Ballard, Buschmann

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Erickson’s guesses of Atkins and Hernandez though replacing the last two; I’m guessing there’s going to be a wide-open competition for this rotation in this year’s spring training. And, I specifically did not include John Lannan here; I just cannot believe the team is going to stick him in Syracuse by virtue of his option after signing on to pay him $5M.

First man promoted: I’d guess Stammen, who did have some successes in last year’s call-up, but it’ll take a swine-flu epidemic in the Nationals clubhouse for him to get called up to make some starts. The MLB staff looks to have two former starters in their bullpen who will get the ball before Stammen gets a shot in 2012, and that doesn’t include the Wang/Lannan 5th starter conundrum.

First man demoted to the bullpen: Arneson; he’s bounced our system around like a pinball lately, and the team seems to use him as a multi-level handy-man instead of a starter prospect.

AA: Rosenbaum, Bronson, Demny, Gilliam, Olbrychowski

This list did have Sammy Solis until his TJ surgery was announced, and I put in Olbrychowski, who was halfway decent in a bunch of 2nd half starts in 2011. I do think Roark is done being a starter in this system but I could be wrong. Gilliam was the little-known make-weight player in the Gonzalez trade and I think he makes it to the Harrisburg roster.

First man promoted: Danny Rosenbaum, who aced Potomac last year and has the same make up as Lannan. But, unfortunately there’s no top-10 stars on this list that could make an immediate impact.

First man demoted to the bullpen: Obrychowski, who started 2011 in the pen and may be on a short leash if someone in Potomac lights it up.

High-A: Purke, Meyer, Selik, Grace, Hill

I think Purke is advanced enough to start here, as is Meyer. Of course, I also think Purke’s injury history could work against him and he ends up in extended spring for a bit. Either way, I think both would be poorly served by sticking them in Low-A. They’re both first round talents and need to be going against older, more advanced hitters right now. This rotation is the future for the Nats; if they can’t find a 2014 starter out of this group, then we’ll be spending a ton in the FA pitching market for years to come. This rotation is hurt by the loss of Taylor Jordan, who will be out the entirety of 2012 with TJ surgery after pitching very effectively for the first half of 2011 for Hagerstown. Hill is the name i’m least confident in, only putting him here by virtue of his being a senior draftee in 2011, thus he’d be at least 3 years too old for low-A this year.

First man promoted: Cameron Selik; the phenom from 2011’s Hagerstown staff already has a ton of Potomac experience and could move up soon. Despite their promise, I think both Purke and Meyers will be in Potomac for at least a half a season to get their professional legs.

First man demoted to the bullpen: Grace: he wasn’t entirely convincing as a starter in low-A, but his numbers were skewed by one or two really bad outings.

Low-A: Turnbull, Hansen, Ray, McGeary, Karns?

Maybe the 5th would be Karns, who if healthy could be a quick riser after so many injuries have derailed what was a promising young arm. I think Ray starts here again with the idea of quickly promoting him, despite his success here last year. He’s still young. Of course, I could also see Ray and Hill switching places between low- and high-A.

First man promoted: Robbie Ray: he out pitched AJ Cole last year without any of the Baseball America top 100 love. I think he’s the next in a long line of lower velocity but higher result lefty starters that the system has been developing (see Lannan, Detwiler to a certain extent, Solis, Rosenbaum and McGeary for comps).

First man demoted to the bullpen: Karns, if he’s here. I’m guessing Karns has this season to show that he continues to be a starter prospect, with a back-of-the-bullpen job waiting if he can’t show he’s durable enough to go 6 innings every 5 days.

Short-A: MRodriguez, Dupra, Baez and 2 draft picks.

GCL: Mieses repeating plus 4 guys from DSL and the 2012 draft.

There’s almost no point of trying to predict the short season rotations, but I do believe that the names listed here aren’t going to make the Low-A roster but are still worth keeping as starters in extended spring. We had almost no starter talent in the GCL last season, with only Mieses making enough of an impression to keep him in that role.

Lastly, Taylor Jordan and Sammy Solis start the year on the DL, unfortunately, both with Tommy John surgery. They would have both been prominent members of their rotations after great seasons last year, and their injuries further thin our starting pitching depth post Gonzalez trade.